Building our home – part 46

Still moving along. We can’t wait to get into the new digs. Still a month or two more. Inside is moving along with trim installation and finalizing tile work. This day was also big outside with lots of final grading work happening. These pics were taken 10-26-2009.

View from current front lawn

Nice to see the house without erosion fencing

Backyard looking smoothed out

Trim work is moving along inside. You can see the door trim and baseboards in this pic. Once they are all painted, the look will be much cleaner.

View into my office

And now for the travertine tile we used in the laundry room (shown here) and the nearby mudroom. Should be durable and up to the challenges of wet shoes and clothes:

Chiseled edge tile

Sitting up tall

In addition to the tummy time, Parker Rose has also been spending time sitting up in her Bumbo chair. It helps support her at this point so she can hold her head up even if she can’t sit up on her own. She likes to sit in it while watching Baby Einstein videos or playing with toys.

Hey guys. I'm just hangin' in my chair.

Drool happens

Still loving the park

We are really loving the park near our house.  We can walk there in a few minutes and the city is even planning a sidewalk to help us get there more easily.  Here are a few pictures cobbled together from several visits:

Having fun with mommy

Tummy time doesn't stop just because we are at the park

Hanging with mommy again

Got to get to the park somehow

Parker Rose (and daddy) on the move

I’ve started taking Parker Rose out in the running stroller that Beth bought for me for my birthday last year.  She got a great deal on it and I had been really excited to use it.  We packed PR in there pretty tight to make sure she didn’t bounce around to much.  I kept it short for the first run, but have been able to do a few longer ones since, even managing 40 minutes the other day.  Here are  few photos from the first run:

Packed in and ready to roll

Running is serious business

By the end of the run, the sun hat had slipped down, Parker Rose had zoned out, and she had even managed to snag a few falling pine needles along the way:

The aftermath

Tummy time girl

We worked hard at making sure Parker spent time on her belly since day 1.  It was pretty dicey at first.  She didn’t like it and only really moved around when she was crying because she disliked it so much.  Since she has been lifting her head, it is a lot more fun for everybody involved.  She loves to play on her play mat, sometimes propped up on a pillow and sometimes just on her own.  She even rolled over for us a week or so ago.  We were too transfixed to grab a video camera and she hasn’t done it again since.  We’ll catch it soon enough and get some video posted.  For now enjoy some pictures of PR playing on her belly:

She's glad we got down to her level

Always having fun

Propped up on her Boppy pillow

You're suspect!

Who's a big girl?

More band-aids for Parker

Parker Rose had another round of shots last week. I can’t believe it has been two months since the last time.  This time it was 4 needle pricks and 1 oral vaccine.  Unfortunately, this time they did the weighing and measuring first, which tends to lead to a crying baby from the cold scale and measuring board.  Then it was straight to the shots with Parker Rose crying from the start.  She made it through and recovered with just a little time being held by mommy and daddy.    She is on track growth wise and developmentally so the visit was pretty easy after the shots were over (other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?).  Since Parker earned her band-aids (matching Bugs Bunny this time), I figured I would show them again:

Can you believe what that nurse did to me?!?!

And now for the close-up

Fist of Fury captured on video

We posted photographic evidence of the Fist of Fury in a prior post.  While that picture was frightening, it didn’t capture the raw speed and power that the Fist is capable of.  We managed to get close up footage of the Fist of Fury in action without putting ourselves, or the camera equipment, in harm’s way.  Behold the awesome power of the Fist of Fury in action:

Cold weather hits town

Remember this is Atlanta, so anything below 50 can qualify as frigid, but last night was in the 30’s, probably the first frost in some areas around metro Atlanta.  Parker Rose and her daddy weren’t about to let that get in the way of our morning walk.  After so many weeks of wet weather, we don’t want anything to stop us from walking.

Beth and I knew it was coming and went shopping yesterday to get a zip up outfit for Parker to wear during cold weather runs and walks.  It’s tough for me to gauge what she needs to wear.  At today’s temps, I would have run in shorts, a light long sleeve shirt, and thin gloves, but since she won’t be moving like I’ll be when I run or even walk, we knew she needed more.  We bought a few candidates, but the sizing wasn’t right on most of them.  Some of the stuff is so big, that I don’t think she’ll fit them until next summer – not exactly when she needs fleece snowsuits.

One of them worked okay, so we got her bundled up for the walk.  She was reminiscent of the kid in A Christmas Story that is so layered up he can’t even lower his arms.  She got a bit crabby during dressing process, probably because she was hot, but once we got outside, and the cool air hit her face, she was ready to roll.  Here are a few pics:

Why can't I move my arms?!?!

Daddy and baby ready to roll

This is gonna be so much fun

After all the action getting wrapped up, buckled in, and photographed, Parker Rose managed to fall asleep about 5 minutes into the walk.  Oh well, I guess she was warm enough then.

Parker Rose plays with butterflies (sort of)

Don’t worry, no butterflies were harmed in the making of this post.  It’s just Parker Rose hanging out in her vibrating chair, playing with the toy butterflies hanging in front of her.  I’m going to have to hire an outside video editor; I can’t bear to edit any of this out, so the video is a bit long.  Feel free to watch as much or little as you like, but the longer you watch the happier you’ll be.  Just sayin’.

Cool photography program

I’ve been playing around with a trial version of a program called Photomatix.  It can help produce photos that capture a greater dynamic range than typical photos.  It blends multiple exposures of the same scene taken at different exposures and cobbles together that information into a single photo.  It can be tweaked to produce photos that range from realistic to surrealistic.

Here is a picture I took at the park the other day of a beautiful maple tree starting to change colors.  The combo of green grass, green leaves, red leaves, and blue sky was beautiful.  The photo just doesn’t do it justice:

Now here’s the version from the program tweaked slightly to the surrealistic side.  Pretty wild, eh?  Oh and ignore the stroller handle in the upper corner.  Long story involving a missing tripod and trying to take the pictures lying on the ground.